Conferences

Budgeting, Forecasting and the Planning Process

REF: C8074 DATES: 18 - 22 Feb 2018 VENUE: Muscat (Oman) FEE: 2500 €

Overview:

Introduction

A good plan should begin with a good forecast, which in turn, may lead to a good budget. A strategy is the long-term plan of what the company is going to do to achieve its policy. The budget is the short-term plan of how strategies may be achieved. It is a quantification of the activities the company must develop to achieve its short-term plans. This leading-edge course explains:

The planning and budgeting process from beginning to end

Budget development

How alternative decisions affect the ‘bottom line’ in terms of both profit and cash flow

Comparison of variances in actual performance against the plan and what these budget variances are saying and how they should be used to control financial performance

The use of Excel® as the toolbox of choice for financial model development, used within this course to develop forecasts, and long- and short-term plans.

Objectives

The objectives of the seminar are to enable delegates to:

Develop strategic thinking, and use the strategic management process to develop missions and objectives and carry out strategic analysis and decision-making

Understand the relationship between financial planning, forecasting, and budgeting and integration of the strategic management process with the budgeting cycle

Understand cost behaviour, the use of alternative costing systems, and cost/volume/profit (CVP) analysis, and develop and prepare an operating budget and how it may be funded using the alternative sources of finance

Use the techniques of budgetary control: development of product standards, flexed budgets, and variance analysis and use of the results of variance analysis to improve operational performance

Determine a company’s cost of capital and use the technique of discounted cash flow (DCF) for capital budgeting and evaluation of capital project investment, and risk analysis using the techniques of sensitivity, simulation, and scenario analysis.

Conference Methodology

The seminar is conducted along workshop principles with formal presentations, case studies and interactive worked examples. Relevant examples and case studies are provided to illustrate the application of each of the topics covered. Each learning point is reinforced with practical examples and exercises. Difficult mathematical concepts are minimised wherever possible and handled in a visual way that is easy to understand with numerous illustrative examples.

Organisational Impact

The organisation will gain through:

The development of managers being able to think strategically

Increased awareness of the importance of effective forecasting and budgeting

Strategic management techniques that will help managers make more informed and therefore better management decisions

Use of techniques that will support the company in its more effective planning and budgeting of its operations, capital investment projects, and cash flow

Use of techniques to forecast sales revenues and cash flows that will help the company in its day-to-day management, and development of long-term plans

The sharing of knowledge gained throughout other divisions and departments of the company.